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Uncontrollably Fond: Episode 4 Recap

Oh joy! We have way more presence in the present day, and get a healthy dose of Pororo! It’s just been a week, but I miss the doggy so!

So let’s revisit that bridge scene, where Joon Young pulled No Eul back from leaping over the edge. He thought he was saving her from a suicide attempt and agreed to shoot the documentary if it meant saving her life. What he doesn’t realize is that No Eul saw two celebrities taking pictures together under the bridge on a secret date: Lee Joon Ho and Lee Yoo Bi – both of whom were Kim Woo Bin’s costars in the film “Twenty!”

Sensing a huge scoop, No Eul climbed a bit higher than she should have and leaned more forward than she should have just to get a good picture of the two stars together. Unfortunately Joon Young pulled her back just before she could snap a clear pic. When he misunderstood her attempt, No Eul didn’t bother correcting him as it worked out to her favor.

Let’s go back five years prior just to finish up what happened at the hospital: The doctors manage to save No Eul from cardiac arrest and stabilize her condition. Joon Young overhears enough of it and then withdraws from law school the very next day. Though a promising student, he’s realized that it’d be dangerous if someone like him became a prosecutor – someone who was willing to hurt another person for the sake of covering up another’s wrongdoings. In a way, No Eul’s earlier words have come to bite him in the ass.

So – now No Eul is going to be a PD on Shin Joon Young’s documentary! For the first day, Nari pretties up her friend with big curlers and lots of makeup. Though No Eul doesn’t care for such frills and knows that Joon Young will make her suffer regardless, Nari has enough pride left that she doesn’t want No Eul to look shabby beside Joon Young. After all, they were all classmates and she doesn’t want it to be so obvious about how far the gap between them now is.

As for Joon Young… ab scene! I mean seriously, he’s got a killer body, and he knows it. He doesn’t look like a man dying at all. Gook Young calls him over to the intercom after Joon Young gets ready to show him something really funny: No Eul dressed to the nines. (Really though, Nari should never be her stylist…) She doesn’t realize that Joon Young and Gook Young can see her as she looks at herself on her phone camera and gushes over how pretty she’s become. At least she doesn’t have self-esteem issues…

Joon Young sends Gook Young off to get Pororo so that he can watch her alone. He’s quite amused by her, charmed even, and we know he’s falling for her all over again. Just then he watches as Nari arrives on her scooter with a new pair of earrings for No Eul. Can’t wear fake jewelry in front of the celebrity! No Eul doesn’t care as she thinks that Joon Young will treat her like crap no matter what, which makes Joon Young a bit uncomfortable.

Nari gives No Eul a bit of a pep talk, encouraging her to ignore any of his nasty comments. She worked too hard to get this opportunity, even pretending to commit suicide! No Eul corrects her friend – she didn’t pretend to commit suicide. In fact, she wasn’t doing that at all, but Joon Young just misunderstood. Joon Young hears all this inside his house, and it makes his heart turn cold. So – he just got played?

When No Eul finally rings the doorbell, Joon Young doesn’t bother opening the door. He doesn’t even let Gook Young open it. She starts banging on the door, ready to kick it down because she’s freezing outside, when finally Joon Young opens it and catches her mid-fall. No Eul smiles respectfully and gives him the heads up that the recording team is on their way.

Joon Young: “I told them not to come. Because I’m not doing the documentary.”

Cue face palm. He keeps changing his mind!! Joon Young is going to take Pororo out for a walk instead, and his good ol’ dog comes running when bid. When he sees No Eul and Joon Young arguing though, he promptly sits down behind his master, waiting it out.

No Eul points out that she lost an exclusive story about Joon Ho and Yoo Bi because of him, and could have earned enough money for two months’ living. Joon Young scoffs; if she wants he can pay her double whatever she lost. Oh yeah? No Eul throws out 100 million won. Why doesn’t he give her a huge amount like that then? Once again, Joon Young smirks – 100 million won is nothing to him. He could give her a billion won, or a house and a car and a building, or everything he has. “Ask me for more money,” he says condescendingly, and No Eul kicks him in the shins for that.

Bad idea, because next thing we know Pororo jumps at No Eul for attacking his master!

And then, Joon Young is carrying No Eul over his shoulder into his house. He plops her on the sofa and tells Gook Young to keep an eye on her. She fainted when Pororo jumped at her, but he thinks she’s just pulling on an act. However, upon closer inspection, Gook Young insists that this is the real thing. No Eul’s breathing is labored, and rashes are appearing all over her neck and hands – wherever her skin is exposed.

Joon Young quickly calls up his private physician Dr. Kang to his house. Turns out she just has a serious dog allergy, and it affected her ability to breathe. Dr. Kang comments on how well Joon Young looks, which bolsters Joon Young’s confidence that he was just misdiagnosed. Once alone in the room with her, Joon Young hears her phone buzzing. The caller is named “Hubby.”

“Hubby” is actually Ji Tae. How they gave each other those nicknames is still a mystery, but Ji Tae’s calling to see if she’s available. Instead, only No Jik arrives at the location, and Ji Tae shows off a really nice, clean apartment. His friend immigrated recently but didn’t want to do anything to his place. So Ji Tae is offering it to No Jik and his sister to live in! I bet you, Ji Tae bought it with his own money.

No Jik pretty much says “thanks but no thanks.” He knows his sister. If she gets something free like this, she’s going to think that luck is all she needs to get by, not working hard and working honestly. She’s already looking for the easiest way to make money, and this free apartment won’t help at all. Besides, the siblings both have jobs and friends to stay with in the meantime. No Jik then hands Ji Tae an envelope of money. He earned it at one of his tutoring jobs, and wants Ji Tae to buy a new coat without holes in them. The only way for No Eul to look at Ji Tae as a man is to see a well-dressed person who looks rich, and No Jik would really like it if Ji Tae could be his brother-in-law. Aww…

Just then Ji Tae gets a call and he promises he won’t be late. Yup – it’s home calling. When he arrives home he’s all cleaned up and dressed in a very sharp suit with a wool coat. Man, Im Joo Hwan is making me swoon…

He arrives home for his grandfather’s memorial service. Jung Eun is already at the home, having prepared all of the foods for offering at the altar. Haru is disturbed by how perfect Jung Eun is and complains to her father privately that there must be something imperfect about Jung Eun. There’s no way a girl like her can be so smart, so pretty, so good at cooking! She must be a vampire! Hyun Joon is really good at pretending to be bemused by Haru’s speculations, considering he knows her one flaw.

Ji Tae knows it too, too well, and it burdens him a bit to know that Jung Eun is meant to be his wife. He thinks back to when he first told his parents that he didn’t want to marry Jung Eun because he didn’t love her. His parents were able to marry for love, so why can’t he also? Why must he marry so that his father could advance in his career? Back then, Hyun Joon had acquiesced and promised to break off the engagement. He said he was not going to use his son to further his own career. Hyun Joon is really like the perfect father, but somewhere between saying that and the present time, it looks like no one was able to really cancel the engagement.

When Ji Tae checks out his father’s office, he sees Jung Eun there, stretching her neck while looking at books. He goes over to massage her shoulders, and she tries to get him to express some kind of affection towards her. Ji Tae is like a stone wall, and he unromantically suggests they just get married and skip the engagement. Jung Eun understands that he’ll never say he loves her, but she’s okay with just loving him more. She goes up to kiss him, and Ji Tae literally just stands there while she does all the work.

Joon Young sleeps at the foot of his bed, on which No Eul is recovering on. When he wakes he realizes she’s gone, and he finds her in the kitchen eating ramen. She got hungry, and her rashes are gone. Fainting might seem to be her thing (after all, she’s done it three times now in four episodes), but she explains that her immune system has weakened ever since she got into a car accident years ago and required three surgeries. I don’t know if a car accident explains allergies, but okay… It does make Joon Young feel guilty though since he technically helped cause that accident.

No Eul is curious to see if his offer to give her anything she wants still stands. First, she’d like to know if he happens to have microwaveable rice (because she’s still hungry). Second, she wants to know if he’ll give her 100 million won. Joon Young just stares at her, and No Eul quickly drops her price down. 50 million won… 30 million won… Fine – what about just 10 million won? If he gives her that much, she won’t ever bother him again about the documentary and will never show up in front of him again.

Joon Young simply says he won’t give her any thing. Not even as a loan. Why can’t she work if she has two arms and two legs. “Because of your temper I lost the job I worked so hard to get!” she spits back. Fair point, so he decides to do the documentary again.

Argh, what a flip flopper!

No Eul doesn’t believe him of course, so he calls up the documentary’s director and puts it on speakerphone. He’ll agree to the documentary this time, and he means it. In fact, the director can add the clause that if Joon Young quits again, he’ll pay 1000x the original severance fee. Alright then!

That evening, No Eul sends Ji Tae a coupon to sneakers to replace his ratty ones. If only she knew… He calls her up excitedly to see what’s the deal, and is really pleased to find out she got a new job. Except… that smile quickly turns into a frown when he realizes she is now Shin Joon Young’s PD on his documentary. He can’t even bring himself to respond to her, leading No Eul to think that he fell asleep. It is 3AM after all.

The following morning, Joon Young starts building a dog house for Pororo. If No Eul is going to come to his place every day for the next three months, she can’t be Pororo. Poor Pororo, he’s so grumpy! Joon Young asks, “Would you rather I live in this dog house and you inside?” Pororo: “WOOF!” I take it it’s a yes. Heehee.

He then asks the housekeeper to clean up all of Pororo’s hair, and she nearly has a heart attack. Pororo sheds a lot, and she wasn’t expecting that much work! At least Joon Young says he’ll do it himself, and he ends up vacuuming his entire home like crazy. He even wipes down every floor and ledge with a rag himself. All for No Eul.

Speaking of, she’s invited back to her old job by her boss. He wants to hire her back, and will offer her double her pay, plus a full time position and benefits, if she works for him instead of Shin Joon Young’s documentary. We find out that it’s because Ji Tae, as a Section Chief of Strategy Planning (presumably for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, but not sure), put the boss up to it. He wants No Eul as far away as possible from Joon Young, and even promises an investment in the boss’s company if he successfully convinces No Eul.

Unfortunately No Eul doesn’t bite. As tempting as a stable job and pay increase sounds, she fears Joon Young more. And she knows that if she backs out of the project, he’ll kill her. Metaphorically, of course.

When Ji Tae hears the bad news, he remembers back to the day when he tried to visit No Eul at her house. He had fruits and gifts, and though it’s not quite clear what he intended to say to No Eul, he did overhear her threatening his father with the footage over the phone. He then watches No Eul walk down the street to catch a cab, and observes Joon Young following her. He watches Joon Young steal a delivery guy’s scooter, and then snatch No Eul’s bag. Ji Tae is spurred into driving after them, but then witnesses No Eul getting slammed by a white car. That’s how he knew she was at the hospital.

He goes into the bathroom, and runs into Joon Young there. Joon Young doesn’t recognize him, but accidentally leaves his phone behind. Ji Tae takes it, and then has one of his men look into Joon Young and find out why he would risk hurting his girlfriend for the sake of his father. And his man finds an old picture of Young Ok with Hyun Joon; it’s very likely that Joon Young is his half-brother. So Ji Tae knows all this in the present day, but it seems no one else is aware that Joon Young is the eldest Choi son.

Filming is set to begin, and Gook Young and CEO Namgoong are impressed with how Joon Young cleaned up his home. What they don’t realize is that Joon Young is relapsing. He throws up in his bathroom and then frantically turns on the shower to cool down his head and try to ease the pains. He shudders and writhes, but pretends that he’s pooping when Gook Young comes by to check on him. It’s at this moment that he wishes for it to pass so he doesn’t have to show his weakness to No Eul. He also remembers his promise to God when she had her accident, and definitely feels like he’s paying the price now.

He visits Dr. Kang in the hospital to just say that his good doctor was right. The brain tumor is getting bigger, but Joon Young doesn’t want to undergo chemotherapy. Instead, he wants the doctor to prescribe him the strongest pain medications so that no one would ever know he was suffering. As he walks out, he passes Lee Eun Soo, who recognizes him but doesn’t approach him. I presume she’s there to see another doctor to check on her long-standing condition.

Joon Young calls up his mother, but she hangs up on him, texting that she’s in a meeting. It’s utter bull, since she runs a restaurant and he knows that she has no reason to be in a meeting. Her “meeting” is actually time set aside with Man Ok (Joon Young’s stylist and Gook Young’s sister) and Yong Deuk, another waiter at the restaurant, to write up nasty comments about Joon Young on any articles about him. It’s actually kind of funny, even though it’s a bit sad she won’t support him.

Jung Sik catches them and threatens to report them for defamation. Yong Deuk claims he’s just following his boss’s orders, while Man Ok thinks Joon Young deserves it. After all, he dropped out of law school without consulting any of them, especially Young Ok’s, and that hurt all their feelings. But she also points out that Joon Young never sues any of his critics online because he’s afraid one of them might be his mom.

Young Ok isn’t stupid though – she is still angry that Joon Young became a celebrity because he had no choice. While she knows that Hyun Joon wouldn’t have necessarily left his family if he knew that Joon Young was a prosecutor like him, she does resent the fact that Joon Young signed on with CEO Namgoong in order to get a signing bonus to bail Gook Young out of trouble. And now he’s just working to pay off that debt. Jung Sik is stunned that she knows all this – and also hasn’t killed him and his family yet! Metaphorically, of course. Though I wouldn’t put it past her to literally kill them.

As for Haru, she leads up a fan club for Joon Young, and she is ready to reveal all of his online critics’ identities and sue them for defamation! Eep. But when she hears the news that No Eul is the new PD of his documentary, Haru deems this to be a bigger crisis. She tells her club members to dig up information on her and figure out if she’s really qualified to be a PD. Looks like they’re going to harass her just because she looks too pretty to be beside Joon Young 24/7.

The club happens to be discussing this at the same cafe where No Jik works, and he curiously asks if they’re talking about the No Eul he knows. Haru is eager for information, but No Jik can’t talk during his shift. He asks for her number, and she gives it to him, warning him that her father is a prosecutor and he better not sell her number to anyone! She then saves his contact info, and he gives her the name “Oh Jik.” Oh you, you need to be more creative if you’re going to try to hide your identity.

At Joon Young’s home, the documentary team makes a presentation to everyone to align them all with the documentary’s goals. It’s one sanctioned by the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health and Welfare, where they want to discourage young teenagers from committing suicide. Their idea is to have 10 really famous people reveal their bucket lists and teach teens how to live their lives to the fullest. Err…

Joon Young didn’t realize this was going to be the concept. Then again, he didn’t read any of the materials beforehand that Gook Young left at his desk. He puts a stop to this presentation and goes to the bathroom to think.

Everyone is already making bets that Joon Young is going to quit again, and No Eul offers to go try to convince him. Just then, Joon Young emerges, ready for the sit down interview.

No Eul sits behind the cameras trained at Joon Young on the sofa, and asks what is the first thing he’d like to do if he only had one year left in the world. One year is too long, so Joon Young pretends he only has three months. First thing he’d like to do is hunt down all his haters and kill every one of them.

Er, that doesn’t really go with the theme of the documentary. Fine.

Joon Young: “I’ll go to clubs and seduce women, and sleep with a different woman every night.”

Oh this really isn’t going well. No Eul asks if this is all a joke to him, but he claims he’s quite serious. So she asks if he’d try drugs, driving drunk, peeing on the streets, and gambling – breaking every law he can while he’s at it.

Joon Young: “Do you want to go out with me PD No Eul? Let’s have a passionate romance for three months.”

Dun dun dun!

Some Thoughts

OF COURSE Joon Young would say that! Not that it makes the moment any worse, but nothing like being at death’s door to ask the girl you love out again. I just hope he doesn’t let her think they can fake their romance again. It didn’t work last time, so it shouldn’t work again!

I’m very happy for today’s healthy dose of Pororo. That dog is so darn cute, even with all his timely responses. I’m also very happy at my healthy dose of handsome Im Joo Hwan. At least we now know what Ji Tae’s current status with his family is: He’s still very much part of the family, but just moonlighting as a poor boy to No Eul. The love square is forming quite nicely I think, but I just hope Jung Eun is given some more meat. I don’t want her to be a completely unlikable second female lead, and I also don’t want her to be pathetically in love with Ji Tae. I want her to try to be worthy of Ji Tae’s love, even if she’ll never amount to much in his eyes. I want to see her desperately cover up her secret without becoming completely hateful.

The whole possible-love-line being drawn between No Jik and Haru kind of bothers me though. Though they match because they’re closer in age, I don’t really want to see them forming a romantic relationship. I don’t even understand why No Jik wants to tell Haru whatever he knows of No Eul. Unless he plans to feed Haru lies, he should leave a fanatic like Haru alone. It’s already weird that Haru is basically in love with her half-brother, even though she doesn’t know it. I don’t want her to try and get “Oh Jik” to like her too and get the scoop on No Eul.

Again, this drama isn’t really trying to be different and unique so far, and there are a lot of little details I’m willing to look over (such as the believability of how No Eul got hit by the car, or how her immune system could be so weak to allergies when she had five years to recover, or how Ji Tae can get away with his lies) for the sake of the actors. (I’m also no doctor, but I still have a hard time believing some things.) The flashback scenes are also quite predictable, so I’m hoping that the writer gives us some new twists in the present day to keep it fresh, and tones down the flashbacks to a minimum next week.

2 thoughts on “Uncontrollably Fond: Episode 4 Recap”

There is something i don’t get. Does No eul have amnesia or something? Cuz when she is with/talking to joon young it doesnt feel natural and feels awkward, did she lose her memory in the accidents she’s been through?

Regarding the allergies that NE acquired after the 3 operations, it could be due to blood transfusions. I have a friend that had practically all her blood switched out with transfusions and now has multiple allergic reactions to seemingly everything.